4 8 15 816 23 42 -"Lost" numbers sharpen those pencils

[underpants]

Okay so these numbers bring fortune AND miserable luck to everyone who uses them.

If you don't watch the show we found out "Hurley"s back story last night. He used these numbers to win the lottery and he ended up in Australia trying to track down another guy who used them to guess the number of beans in a jar winning lots of money but having tragic events happen all around him as did Hurley. We find out that the "French woman" who was already on the island ended up there because the ship she was on picked up a message from the island that included these numbers so they went to investigate, hit rocks, and sunk (she is the only survivor that we know about).

In the last 30 seconds of the show "Locke" pulled back the undergrowth on what appears to be a spaceship or some sort of aircraft to reveal the numbers on the side.

So my wife and I (both accountants) set out to try to figure it out.

4 8 15 16 23 42

mulitplied out they = 7,418,880
added together they = 87
but it has to be something other than just equation

Alpha numeric?

Corresponding to the English alphabet it spells out
DHOPY and then the 42 (26+16) is P

:shrug:

Individually corresponding they spell out
DHAEAFBCDB

:shrug:

The correspondig US Presidents are
Madison
Van Buren
Buchanan
Lincoln
Benjamin Harrison
Clinton

US states as they entered the union
Georgia
South Carolina
Kentucky
Tennessee
Maine
Washington

:shrug:


On the face of a clock ( I can't really draw this on this thread)

:shrug:

Any ideas?

[trumad]

1. 4 8 15 16 23 42

8-4 = 4
15-8 = 7
23-16= 7

42-23= 19

Total = 37

37 episodes before the show jumps the shark?

:shrug:

[underpants]

2. Now is the 2 is a "T" and 5 is a "S" and 4 is an "H"

and you turn the upside down the spell out

THETgISI?H
2432615184

the 6 turned upside down sorta looks like a 9 or a small case g

[northzax]

16. i believe you have misplaced a decimal point

move it one spot to the left. that's a good chap.

[TreasonousBastard]

3. First thought is that it's...

one of those "next number in the series " questions I was always so lousy at.

Then I'm thinking that 12 million people will pick this as their lottery number this week, and if it shows up they'll each win a quarter.

[underpants]

4. I thought the same thing about the lottery

:thumbsup:

Next number +4 +7 +1 +7 +19

Or individually +4 -7 +4 -4 +5 -4 +1 +1 -2

[KamaAina]

23. Hawai'i doesn't have a lottery

oops I forgot, they're not on North Shore, so stop saying that: they're on some deserted island (even though I can see the Wai'anae Range in the background!!)

It's a strange show to watch, when one lives here: "You morans! There's a frickin' bus stop right out there on the highway! It takes you right into Hale'iwa town!" Or, when someone stole the water bottles from the cooler: "See those mountains up there? Hike into them. There are springs in them, idjit!!"

[Patiod]

30. I had that same thought last night

What's sad is how much I look forward to that damned show.

[matcom]

5. i know their meaning

its a stupid f*cking tv show and they mean NOTHING! :D

[underpants]

6. No they are crucial to the plot

:P

[Beware the Beast Man]

7. So what's in the box?

That seems to be key...

[underpants]

8. A slide rule?

Maybe that will answer this riddle

[AllegroRondo]

9. 42 = Douglas Adams

and its Fox Mulder's apartment number.

hmmmmmmm

[underpants]

11. Oh yes I had forgotten that

The Hitchhiker's thing

Hmmmmmmmmm indeed

[xmas74]

10. I have no idea

I watched last night and I am usually good at figuring nearly everything out in a show or a movie (I ruin things for many of my friends).
So far, the show has thrown me for a loop.
We both know that the numbers are very important-but what about all of the prophesies about Claire's baby?

[tjwmason]

12. Have you thought about the Hebrew alphabet?

4 is dalet
8 is chet
15 is tet-vav
16 is tet-zayin
23 is kaf-gimel
42 is mem-bet

I'm afraid that I know diddly-squat on the subject beyond that, but I know that there is tons of stuff based on Hebrew numerology.

[underpants]

14. Thanks I don't know much about the Hebrew alphabet

but I did tell my wife that we needed to consider the numbers going right to left not necessarily left to right.

[radwriter0555]

13. Map coordinates or latitude stuff?

I don't know nuthing about that type of numerics... anyone?

[ImpeachBush]

15. Someone else's idea ....

See http://forums.go.com/abc/thread?threadID=260950

Hurley's lotto ticket is really a puzzle in the pyramid of prime numbers and I think this will be a answer to the island.

Prime numbers include:

1 2 3 5 7 11 13

Every number in the series is a sequence to prime number addition:

1+3=4
3+5=8
3+5+7=15
1+3+5+7=16
1+3+5+7+7=23
1+2+3+5+7+11+13=42
0r
1+3+5+5+7+7+7+7=42
There is some sort of relation to a pyramid of prime numbers that will eventually explain the island and the group's reason for being there.

I was hoping there was a math whiz/geek like myslef that might help in this.

Just a thought...

[northzax]

18. sums of primes is interesting

in a cryptography sense. but not as interesting as mulitples of primes would be. And frankly, you would need a better pyramid effect, the one created here is too inconsistent and seemingly contrived. Almost anthing can be the sum of primes (5=3+2, 6=3+2+1, 7=5+2, 9=7+2) so it seems a bit fishy. If the numbers mean something mathematically, it must be very artfully contrived.

or is it possible that Lost created an entirely new mathematical processs, one that would not be recognized by mathmeticians immediately, simply for the show?

[underpants]

19. Aha!

Very interesting

[Maine-ah]

17. can they relate to bible verses?

[underpants]

20. Of course

Be my guest

[Beware the Beast Man]

21. I read something about this on televisionwithoutpity.com:

4- who knows? someone mentioned that 4 is a bad luck number in Asia. true?
8+15- 815, the flight number.
16- number of years Rousseau has been stranded on the island
23- significant in discordanism (help here? :shrug:)
42- the meaning of life, according to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Also the number of survivors on the island.

Man, what a cool-ass show "Lost" is to get people thinking like this! Beats reality TV for sure.

[Enraged_Ape]

25. Robert Anton Wilson says you will find 23s everywhere.

That's the "discordian" number you mentioned.

It was also the first thing I thought of when contemplating these numbers.

Along with the Hitchhiker's 42, I think the producers are just having fun with us.

[Book Lover]

26. A quick consult with the pineal gland

from this site (http://www.ology.org/principia/body.html) says this:

POEE subscribes to the Law of Fives of Omar's sect. And POEE also recognizes the holy 23 (2+3=5) that is incorporated by Episkopos Dr. Mordecai Malignatus, KNS, into his Discordian sect, The Ancient Illuminated Seers of Bavaria.

And that's all I found. But I'll have fun looking further into the PD!

[Enraged_Ape]

22. They add up to 666

Spotted this on a Usenet LOST group:

The actual numbers on the lottery ticket were displayed as...

4 8 15 16 23 (42)

...with 42 being, I guess, the "Powerball" number.

Add up the non-Powerball numbers: 66.

Add the digits in the Powerball: 6.

666. QED.

Spooky.

[Maine-ah]

24. ew. that's good.

[ImpeachBush]

27. Maybe a date/time? 4/8/1915 16:23:42 ...

April 8, 1915 at 4:23 (42 seconds) PM?

I tried to find some significant occurance on that date and time, but I don't have time to explore further.

[beyurslf]

28. Maybe they just had each actor pick a number between 1 and 50

and now with the fans going wild over "what they mean" the writers are desperately trying to figure it out too. :)

[jswordy]

29. "It's an accountant thing...you wouldn't understand!"

ROFLMFAO!